Month: October 2008

Putting your home in a seasonally festive mood doesn’t have to include a trip to your discount store for plastic novelties and overpriced knick-knacks. Take a look around the natural outdoors to get inspiring ideas for authentic styles and eye-pleasing arrangements to bring indoors. These four projects are simple, suitable, and surprisingly affordable.

Cornucopia – What dining table wouldn’t look inviting with the traditional look of a harvest bounty? The “horn of plenty” basket can be purchased at most hobby shops and over-filled with small pumpkins, squash, and decorative ears of corn, leaves, fruits, and berries (Tip: To reduce the amount of items you will need, try stuffing the bottom end of the basket with “filler” such as straw, dried leaves, excelsior or raffia). Tuck a few autumn-colored fresh flowers into the arrangement for some brilliance (Sunflowers, red or orange Gerbera Daisies, or a few peach roses can compliment the look).

Wreaths – The circular symbols for “welcome” can be placed both indoors and outdoors for a guest-friendly look. Wreaths can be made from flowers, leaves, evergreen, and fresh berries. Dried and preserved presentations can be used year-after-year, while fresh arrangements can last through the holiday of your choosing. Hang them on a wall, a door, or lay them flat to surround a candle display!

Vases – Still in season, flowers in a vase can be easily moved from room to room, giving you a chance to brighten an area at a moment’s notice! For a clean look, keep it simple by using one kind and color of flower. To show your colorful side, group together complimentary colors with an arrangement full of vibrant textures and a variety of florals. Choose a plain vase to decorate, or consider a painted vase with a fall theme or adorned with bows or buttons.

Garlands – Fireplace mantels, long decorative tables, and entryways are just screaming to be decorated, too! Consider a garland made of natural flowers to give a special touch to these flat surfaces. Garlands may be hung and allowed to “fall down” slightly for a draped look, or placed directly along ledges for a no-nail option.

The autumn season is a long one, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Usher in the warmth of family gatherings and a spirit of thanks with a natural flower arrangement that stirs your soul and brightens your home. Endless options and a brilliant palette make it easy for even the most timid decorator to master!

There are no hard and fast rules for maintaining seasonal floral etiquette. What was popular in the summer may work just as well in early autumn. If your wedding event has you wondering whether a summer or autumn flavor is best, consider the following to keep things authentic:

Location – An autumn wedding will look drastically different in Minnesota than it would in sunny Sacramento. Get a feel for your surroundings and pick pieces that compliment the natural environment, while celebrating both the passing of a season and a new phase of life. Consider giving your “Big Day” a local flare with unique accents that were grown in the same area as your big event. Check with your master florist for special homegrown touches they can add to your arrangement!

Availability – Some flowers will simply be more plentiful than others. By sticking with the most seasonal of floral arrangements, you can guarantee they will be easy to get and can be customized to your liking (Roses for instance, are celebrated year-round, but come in fabulous fall hues – like peach!). And with greenhouses offering certain fall favorites at most any time of year, it may be easier to have your favorite seasonal flowers even after the season has passed.

Cost – Whoever stated that “Money is no object” obviously never paid for their own wedding! For brides on a budget, seasonal offerings just make good sense. While generally more affordable than their off-season counterparts, they will never show their savings and can give a million-dollar appearance to any lower-priced celebration.

Can you wear white after Labor Day? I wouldn’t recommend it. Can you use white lilies after fall has begun? Sure you can – just opt for a mixed arrangement that contains a variety of fall colors, as well.

While all flowers (even the ones in spring) are a brilliant offering of appreciation, the lively textures, colors, and detail of a perfectly-pieced fall floral arrangement is a treasure that can be remembered for many seasons. Celebrate the beauty of your special day with a fall floral theme that contains bold butterscotch, orange and bronze blossoms (or pick an arrangement contained in a rustic container, like the $57.99 Harvest Basket). There are so many autumn designs to choose from, and each is sure to give an authentic feel to your wedding.

Earlier in September Flora2000 made its presence felt in the sunshine state  by participating in two major annual events in Orlando – the Lou Brock Golf Classic & Florida Funshine Fest 2008.

While the Golf tourney was a spectacular event for pros, amateurs and spectators alike, it was at the celebratory dinner that followed  Flora2000 made its mark. Attendees were dazzled with the gorgeous table arrangements and the tournament winners got to take home classy, exotic bouquets. Well, they weren’t the only ones taking something back home. When the night was over, all the 25 table arrangements had disappeared.

Onto the Florida Funfest where Flora2000’s presentation was heard by the lot and the booth was visited by hundreds of attendees. Questions, suggestions, comments, compliments – the two days were just a whirlwind of non-stop activity. And last year’s lesson on stocking extra promotional material surely served us well.

All in all it was one truly memorable experience for us; meeting our associates, local media, celebrities and finally the people who matter the most, our customers. Needless to say we’ll be back next year!

I’m taking this opportunity to first thank each and every one of you for your continued support to Flora2000.  We have made great strides over the past decade and we look forward to continuing to provide you with the finest floral arrangements and customer service available.

To ensure we continue meeting your needs with an unparalleled customer experience, we are undertaking a complete web site makeover of Flora2000.com.  Once complete, the site will not only have a new look and feel, but also will be easier to navigate, feature new products and highlight the new Flora2000 blog. The blog will provide floral recommendations, advice and tips on choosing the right arrangement or bouquet for any occasion as well as feature insights from some of our master florists located around the world.

Let me share with you all, the thought behind the new look of our site.

We first started to understand as to which icons would represent our brand and would give a meaning to what we do. Hence we came up with the below icon development chart.

The first row in the icon development represents various types of deliveries and gifts. The second row has different kinds of flowers and the third has monuments from different parts of the world. All the above put together deliver our statement – “Same day delivery to more than 150 countries worldwide with over 3000 different floral arrangement to choose from.”

Once we finalized with the above icons we had to decide which color and the elements would compliment our brand logo and would match up to our premium standards. Below is the color development phase.

We chose shades of purple, pale orange and gray color to compliment our brand logo as they not only gel well together but also have a peculiar premium feel attached to them.

These designs (which are images), are not fully fine tuned but we hope they give you a brief idea about the thought behind the scenes.

Thanks again for your support. We enjoy delivering your flowers…

Rehan Yar Khan
Founder – Flora2000